Antisaccade generation is impaired after parietal lobe lesions

Antisaccades are directed away from visual targets. Impaired antisaccade generation has been attributed to frontal lobe damage. We studied antisaccades in patients with unilateral focal parietal lobe lesions. Normal subjects (N = 10) instructed to make 10° antisaccades opposite to a 100-ms target flash 10° to the right or left of center made antisaccades in 86.1% of trials. Patients (N = 13) made antisaccades contraversive to their lesions in 55.4% of trials and 50.5% of ipsiversive trials. In other trials, reflexive saccades occurred toward the target flash. Nine patients with imaged lesions overlapping in parietal lobe white matter showed subnormal antisaccade generation. Antisaccades provide a means of measuring voluntary saccade function of the parietal lobes independent of visual guidance. Impaired suppression of reflexive saccades and generation of antisaccades is attributed to disconnection of parietal lobe from frontal lobe ocular motor areas.